A few months ago, we posted about Abu Dhabi's plans to make Masdar City the greenest city in the world. This month, the project is inching its way towards becoming a reality. Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has been tapped to design a zero-waste, zero-carbon output building for the Masdar Headquarters.

Smith and Gill’s design features a sprawling canopy lined with photovoltaics, resting on 11 massive glass hyperboloids. Underneath the canopy, a series of interconnected volumes, topped by green roofs, provide space for offices, retail stores, and residences. The hyperboloids serve as cooling chimneys that exhaust warm air while also creating interior courtyards with water gardens; they are sculpted to bring diffuse daylight into the facility and prevent the glare of direct sunlight.

The building will also be made to produce surplus energy to be used in powering other structures.